If I Could Reach You
by LucidClockwork
Summary: She was clumsy, airheaded, useless and unworthy of becoming a ranger; but then why couldn't he stop caring about her? That reckless, carefree, selfless idiot.
1. Chapter 1

**If I Could Reach You**

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 **Summary:** _She was clumsy, airheaded, useless and unworthy of becoming a ranger; but then why couldn't he stop caring about her? That reckless, carefree, selfless idiot._

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 **Disclaimer:** _Nothing belongs to me except the general storyline._

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 **Categories:** _Romance, Friendship, Adventure, Drama, Humor_

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 **A/N:** _I just want you lovely readers to keep in mind that I am not American. I am Australian and so, I usually use the British spelling of words such as humor (humour), color (colour), gray (grey), cozy (cosy), etc… I know majority of readers will be American so I have adapted my spelling to be more suitable for that audience. I'd be pleased if anyone could help me correct any words that aren't using the American spelling._

 _Even though this game is almost ten years old, I have so many childhood memories involving this game. It was my very first spin-off Pokémon game too. My excuse is that this game is almost a decade old so that's why I'm writing a fanfic about it. :P_

 _That's all for now, enjoy~_

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 **LucidClockwork**

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 **Chapter 1**

* * *

Kellyn heard the sliding doors, a sharp inhale, a grunt, and a crash before he knew just _what_ he was setting himself up for in his (originally) planned comfortable year.

He was Kellyn Hajime. The honor student of class A of Almia's ranger school favored quiet solitude over companion time, grades over a social life. The only person he ever allowed into his personal bubble was Keith Dazzle. Even he himself didn't know why he didn't feel discontent in the presence of one that embodied every personality trait Kellyn strived to avoid.

It was mid-February when Ms April announced that there would be a transfer student in Class A. The class broke into hushed voices and delighted giggles. Keith leaned over Kellyn's desk, ignoring his friend's exasperation, and kicking at the legs of his table.

"Do you think he'll be aiming to be a ranger like us?"

Kellyn pried the papers from under Keith's body. "How are you so sure it'll be a guy?"

"Because girls have a lower chance of getting in than guys,"

"That's sexist Keith, and what if it is a guy but they want to be an operator?"

Keith pouted. "Can you be an optimist for once Hajime?"

"I'm being a realist, get off my desk Keith. I don't care about whoever it's going to be."

Keith huffed but complied either way, instead opting to lean on his chair dangerously. The rest of the class halted the chatter when the door slid open and a petite girl with spiky pigtails stepped into the room…

…Only to lose her balance and face-plant.

The room sat in stunned silence before a single student guffawed and the student body fell into gut-wrenching laughter. Kellyn only scowled, a frown marring his forehead. The girl sat up, rubbing her head sheepishly as Ms April helped her to the front of the room.

"Our new friend came alone to our Almia region to become a Pokémon ranger. Why don't you introduce yourself to the class?" Ms April gestured to the class.

"Well," the girl began, her grin almost mirroring Keith's. "My name is Kate Hitomi, I'm aspiring to be a Pokémon Ranger and I hope to get to know you all!"

Ms April was pleased, she nodded before snapping her attention back to the class, "Let's all make Kate feel welcome. I understand that she scored quite well in the entrance exam… What is it Keith?"

Keith shook his head but balanced the legs of his chair dangerously. He leaned his body eagerly, clearly ignoring the disapproving looks Ms April shot at him.

"Why the big grin?" She paused before giving a sideways glance to the new transfer student. "Anyway, we better get you seated somewhere, Kate. The seat next to Kellyn is free."

In an instant, Kate's eyes scanned the room and searched for the one named Kellyn. Those brilliant blue eyes swept over the classroom and Kellyn only wished that he hadn't sucked in a sharp breath. Worst of all was the irritating buzzing in his ears when her gaze fell on him for a split second and the tingling in his fingertips as he attempted to drum away the feeling on his desk.

Ms April seemed notice his internal dilemma (albeit Kellyn hoped she didn't realize just what exactly was making him feel all tingly) as she clapped her hands together in realization. "Oh yes that's right! Kellyn is the brown-haired boy on your left."

Kate slumped into the chair next to Kellyn who still could not force the unpleasant cadence in his stomach down. The sheets and handouts spread out on his desk lay forgotten as Kellyn fell out of his usual focus, instead trying to calm himself down.

"Okay that will do. That's it for treating you like a new transfer student. From now on, you're all my students, people who I can take pride in teaching." Ms April continued her speech but Kellyn was no longer listening.

"…Kellyn?" It was Kate, why she was even bothering to talk to Kellyn was beyond him.

"What?" he snapped in a small whisper, widening his eyes when realizing just how irritable he felt at the moment; for no reason either.

She seemed unfazed however and pointed to his fingers, "The tapping is a little off beat, it's putting me off."

Kellyn only bore holes into her skull, unsure of how to express his surprise. "…Sorry?"

Kate giggled airily. "It's putting off my focus, so try sticking to a pattern."

"Isn't all sorts of tapping annoying?" Kellyn sneered, he hadn't even noticed what he was doing unconsciously.

"Maybe," she shrugged. "I can work under any conditions as long as it doesn't keep rapidly changing."

"… You're a weird person Hitomi."

As she was about to reply, Ms April patted her shoulder lightly. Kate yelped in surprise, toppling over her chair and landing on the floor. The class chuckled and even Ms April smiled in amusement.

"Before I go, Kate, I need to explain something to you. It's about the school styler you were provided before the entrance exam."

Kate nodded dreamily, still dazed from her earlier surprise. Further discussion of the school stylers had her nodding in concentration, sucking in the information Ms April was presenting her. She then turned to the rest of the class.

"Everyone, you should all be paying attention to this as a review-… Keith! Don't yawn with your mouth wide open like that." With the exception of Kellyn, the class once again broke into light, melodious laughter until dying down with Keith's irritable glares.

After explaining the functions of the school stylers, the limitations, and the features; Ms April turned to the girl behind her with curly, pale blonde hair Kellyn never bothered to learn the name of. "Rhythmi, can I get you to show Kate around the school, please?"

"I sure will!" The girl was much too enthusiastic for Kellyn's liking.

"I'll be in the Staff Room. I'll leave you to it." Ms April said before leaving the classroom.

As soon as the wheels of the sliding door rolled shut, Kate was bombarded with students gathering around her curiously. Kellyn in particular, who sat right next to her felt a tick grow when Keith practically leapt over his table to join his peers, scattering his papers everywhere.

"Hey, new kid," That damned redhead radiated confidence. "I forgot your name, but long did it take you to capture Pikachu? Like an hour?"

"Keith," Kellyn growled.

"Kellyn," he imitated.

It really seemed like the other boy really did have a death wish and absolutely no survival instincts.

"Get off my desk," Kellyn hissed, a very clear warning in his tone of voice.

Now either Keith was the dumbest, densest person alive or he was choosing to not heed his warning to show some backbone. Kellyn didn't care about either possibility, instead flipping the table (with Keith still on it, mind you) and watching with smug satisfaction as Keith toppled to the floor. Kellyn shoved him lightly to the side with his foot before setting down his desk once again.

The class guffawed and giggled, Rhythmi gazed strangely at Kate. "Aren't you even a little bit surprised Kate?"

She smiled absentmindedly. "Should I be worried? They look like good friends," Kate glanced down at Keith, grinning. "Anyway, about your question. I took-."

Rhythmi waved her hands vigorously. "Keith's just a show-off. You're better off ignoring him."

"It's fine Rhythmi," There was that doe-eyed smile again. "I took 4.2 seconds to capture the pikachu."

Everyone gasped and sighed in awe. "Woah! That's almost as good as Kellyn!"

"And he got 3.7 seconds!"

"That's freaking amazing!"

His mouth dropped, stupefied before quickly clamping shut when her head turned. Goddammit, now her attention was on him and Kellyn couldn't suppress the sudden self-consciousness he felt from her stare, "You'll be an amazing ranger someday."

"Ha…" Kellyn shifted awkwardly in his seat, unsure of how to reply.

Luckily the blonde girl cut into the conversation, turning Kate's attention on her. "Anyway, your attention should be on me instead of those two guys," She pointed at both Kellyn and Keith, who still lay in a dishevelled heap on the floor. "I'm not here to become a Ranger. I want to become an Operator instead."

Kate nodded, urging her on. "So when Keith becomes a Ranger, I can order him around like my servant!"

There was a muffled indignant whine from the floor, silenced by Kellyn's palm on his head, "Just joking!"

The class burst into laughter once more.

Rhythmi dusted her palms and said in aa excited voice, "All right, let me take you a tour of the Ranger School. Let's begin with our own classroom."

As Rhythmi explained the school to Kate, Kellyn could help but rub his sweaty palms against his jeans. He laid out his handouts and sheets back on his desk.

Just because there was a new transfer student, just because he was slightly intrigued about the new girl, Kellyn wasn't about to neglect his private studying and his dream of becoming a Pokémon Ranger.

When he heard the fading footsteps of the blonde girl and Kate, he decided that Kate was a distraction. She seemed to be a total airhead, clumsy and completely indifferent to becoming a ranger. Not only that but whenever she was around, he fell into a pile of goo at her feet.

Yep, she was definitely useless and unworthy of becoming a ranger.

… **(x)…**

After the school bell rang, indicating the end of the period, Kellyn and Keith were the last two students left in the classroom. Keith was idly fiddling with a Chinese finger trap he'd found in his desk whilst Kellyn jotted down a few noteworthy bullet-points into his notebook from the textbook.

The silence was comfortable, not awkward as many might've thought. It took around ten minutes for Kellyn to finish, putting away the textbook onto one of the shelves and reorganizing his notes.

"You done yet?" Keith asked.

"Yeah…" Kellyn drawled.

Keith hopped off his desk, placing a hand on Kellyn's shoulder. "Hey... let's go outside."

"Instead of the dorms? Why?"

Keith shrugged. "I'm guessing Kate and Rhythmi are still touring the school, they're probably still outside."

Kellyn shrugged off his hand and scrunched his nose up in disgust. "I barely know them, you go yourself."

"I'm forcing you to come with me Kellyn."

At moments like these, Kellyn hated that Keith was a few inches taller than him. He clearly couldn't intimidate Keith to take back the offer. "Fine, sure, whatever."

After leaving the main building, Keith and Kellyn were greeted with a horde of Bidoof running amok, Janice stood in the center of the school grounds looking panic-stricken and clueless.

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!" She shouted in desperation. "Help, someone! Anyone! Catch the Bidoof for me!"

There was a shriek from the direction of the training room, forcing both boys to snap their attention from the Bidoof to the two people standing at the entrance of the training room.

"J-Janice?!" Rhythmi screamed, she turned towards Kate who somehow looked ordinarily calm and unsurprised. "She's having trouble with the Bidoof!"

Kate glanced out to the field of scurrying Bidoof. "Please, Kate! Capture the Bidoof and get them to settle down!'

From beside Kellyn, Keith seemed almost excited. Kellyn groaned, trying to grab at the fabric at his friend's back before he took off albeit to no heed. He'd already taken off and began chasing the Bidoof.

"Oh god, Keith no-,"

"Heh, I was wondering what the ruckus was all about." Keith was shouting, grabbing the attention of both Rhythmi and Kate, "Looks like a good time that's up for grabs!"

Kellyn had run over to the girls, panting and catching his breath.

Rhythmi, her voice panicky said, "Kellyn! You help with the captures too!"

He inhaled sharply, turning to Kate, "Look, knowing Keith. He's probably challenging both of us to capture as many Bidoof as we can." Kellyn suddenly remembered the fact that Kate almost beat him in the entrance exam and bitterness surfaced on his face, hidden but still there. "Try not to fall over again now."

Kate stared at him blankly, ignoring his latter comment, "That sounds like fun."

"Wha-…"

"We're having a capture race! You, Kellyn and I!" Keith shouted, attempting to tackle a Bidoof that scampered away from him.

Kate had already begun running after the Bidoof much like Keith was, except with more agility and less noise.

Kellyn groaned, before taking off as well, "What a pain…"

From behind him, he could faintly hear Rhythmi muttering, 'You can be so annoying Keith!' before he completely turned his focus to the escaping Bidoof.

"Capture on!"

… **(x)…**

In the end, all the Bidoof were captured within a few minutes. Rhythmi sighed in relief.

"That's all the Bidoof now."

From beside Rhythmi, Keith was huddled into a small ball at the feet of the Bidoof. He rocked back and forth, speaking in hushed tones as if he was muttering a mantra to exorcise a demon.

" _I caught one Bidoof and I had a head start too… In fact my head start gave me half the time it took for everyone to capture the Bidoof together. I'm pathetic. I lost. Both Kellyn and the new kid beat me, they got four each. I'm a worthless excuse of a ranger_ -…"

"Goddammit Keith," Kellyn hissed, grabbing his friend's collar and placing him on his feet. "It was just a silly race. You suggested it too!"

Keith fell back down to ground-level, "Because I thought I could beat both of you guys."

"Oh my god Keith, get over it!"

"It was fun and that's what matters," Kate said thoughtfully, crouching down to the ground and patting Keith soothingly on the back.

"You're so much nicer than Hajime-…"

"Shut it Dazzle."

Janice laughed, awkwardly clearing her throat, "You looked good at it, Keith!" She glanced over to Kate, who was still rubbing circles on Keith's back, "Of course, I also need to thank our new friend and Rhythmi and Kellyn, too."

She bowed low, "Thank you for this. This is a big relief for me."

Janice and her nine Bidoof soon left, leaving the four students standing in the center of the field. Keith was no longer sulking and Kellyn gazed uninterestedly to the surrounding fields. Now that adrenaline had worn off, he could clearly feel the pounding off his heart against his chest and the foreign, discontent feeling was bothering him.

"Kellyn you were amazing as always," Keith groaned. "Seriously, I'll catch up to you one day."

He then turned to Kate, "I'd rate your captures around 65 out of 100," he awkwardly kicked the dirt at his feet. "…Hey, but you know… I'll be honest: I was pretty surprised by how you did. You might be decent for someone who just learned about this."

Kellyn silently agreed.

"You said your name was Kate, right?"

Rhythmi cut in, laughing, "Oh, you, Keith! You knew Kate's name all along! For goodness' sake… You're acting like some guy that just confessed his feelings to Kate!"

Keith's face glowed, "I do not!" he cried indignantly.

If this was any other day, Kellyn would be joining in with the blonde girl just to see his friend's undignified reaction but unbecoming feelings at the pit of his stomach that had been bothering him for a while poked and prodded at his usual attitude. This time however, the feelings were sharper and painful. He felt like he was… Angry…?

Rhythmi's face lit up, her clenched palm smacking her open one, "That's right! There's somewhere I haven't shown you yet!"

For some reason, Kellyn's voice came out croakier than intended. "You mean Ascension Square?" he asked.

"Yes!"

"Then we'll go too." Keith cut in, grabbing Kellyn's arm as if he intended to escape albeit for no reason, Kellyn felt content to go with everyone (despite the fact that he was only ever comfortable with a single person).

"Oh, all right. I guess we'll let you guys come with us."

"It's like we're all going as friends," said Kate, once again, her voice seemed unfocused and faraway.

"This is Ascension Square." Rhythmi said as they hopped off the last step of a particularly long stone staircase. The four of them gathered in front of the stone as Kate leaned down to read the inscription, mildly interested.

"Next month, there's going to be a special class here. It's the Outdoor Class." Rhythmi continued, "That monument there is called the Pledge Stone."

The Pledge Stone was a single block plateau with stairs carved from the same stone. A single inscription was carved on the flat plateau at the feet of the central structure, made of four curvy obelisks holding up a large capture disk.

"If you make a pledge to each other with your friends here, it will surely come true…" Rhythmi said, flexing her fingers. "That's what Principal Lamont told me."

"A pledge huh?" Kate mumbled.

"And there you have it! That concludes Rhythmi's School Tour of Wonder and Excitement!"

"It wasn't that wonderful-… Ow! Rhythmi! What was that for?"

"Shut up Keith please."

Kate laughed so hard that her styler slipped out of her pouch, bounced on the smooth stone and off the plateau on the grass.

"I'll get that,"

"Kate!" Rhythmi smiled widely as Kate reached for the styler, "I'm glad to have met you! I hope we can be friends for a long time!"

"Likewise," Kate replied, finally grasping her styler.

"Don't be friends with Rhythmi," Keith interjected. "Be friends with me, okay?"

The moment Kellyn opened his mouth to speak, a chime rang out over the fields, inviting the four students back to the main building. Keith sighed irritably.

"Oh," said Rhythmi. "There goes the bell."

"We'd better get back to class," Keith groaned.

Both Rhythmi and Keith strode back to class. It wasn't until Keith reached the top of the stairs did he realise that Kate and Kellyn weren't trailing behind him. Kate was still laying on top of the pledge stone, idly kicking her feet and Kellyn was watching her stonily. Keith probably thought it was odd, because he ran back down the stairs to remind them both to come back with them.

"We'll be there in a moment," Kellyn called as Keith took his tenth step down.

Keith paused, staring at his friend suspiciously, "Sure but you have five minutes until Ms April comes back." He hurried back up the stairs to join Rhythmi at the main building.

It wasn't until his footsteps fully faded did Kellyn speak, "…Why did you ask me to stay back?"

Kate gazed at him dreamily, it was like he wasn't even there. "You seem to act differently to me than everyone else."

She was observant, "So what?" Kellyn snapped.

Kate wasn't perturbed by his rude tone, she inquired, "We're friends right?"

If she didn't hear the excruciatingly loud thump in his chest then she might've been deaf, "No…" He said slowly.

"Why not?" She asked curiously.

"I don't like you," Kellyn said sharply before he pivoted on his foot and strode up the stairs. He faintly heard her speak, not to him but strangely to the air. When Kellyn finally reached the main building, he huffed in irritation, trying to sooth the dull feeling in his arms.

 _You're a horrible liar._

* * *

 **Edited:** _30.01.2017 (punctuation-fixes, word adaptations to the American dictionary, dialogue improvement, capitalization-fixes)  
_

 **Edited:** _11.02.2017 (minor typo-fixes)_

 **Approximate Word Count:** _3600 words_

 **A/N:** _I haven't written anything in a while to be completely honest. This story is more of a 'clean off your rusty writing skills' type of story. Of course, I will continue my other stories but I'll be focusing more on this story until I feel that I'm happy with my writing. The next chapter might take anywhere between a week and a month to upload. I hope you enjoyed this!_


	2. Chapter 2

**If I Could Reach You**

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 **Summary:** _She was clumsy, airheaded, useless and unworthy of becoming a ranger; but then why couldn't he stop caring about her? That reckless, carefree, selfless idiot._

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 **Disclaimer:** _Nothing belongs to me except the general storyline._

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 **Categories:** _Romance, Friendship, Adventure, Drama, Humor_

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 **A/N:** _Hey guys! Thanks for the feedback in the first chapter! The three reviews I got all had advice on how to improve my story so I'm very thankful for that._

 _Wahh! In Australia, the school year has just begun! My school is actually dumb enough to forget to send the book list and stationary list to EVERYONE in the freaking school. My mum (this is the British spelling for mom in case you didn't know) was completely freaking out and the fact that my friends don't have anything either really isn't helping her calm down. Welp, I hope you enjoy this chapter anyway._

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 **LucidClockwork**

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 **Chapter 2**

* * *

That night, as much as Kellyn wished to be under his comforter and tucked snugly between his sheets, Keith had insisted that Kellyn help both he and Rhythmi with test of courage for Kate. As much as he wanted to deny any offer, Keith would not take no for an answer.

So, there they were, out in the common area in their school uniform. Despite how embarrassing it would have been for him to out of the male dorm rooms in just pajamas, Kellyn just didn't want to be bothered with this sort of thing.

"Thanks for waiting," Rhythmi called when she slammed open her dorm room and Kate trailed behind her. She looked just as tired as Kellyn, yet somehow still appearing as doe-eyed as she usually was.

"Yeah, kept us waiting all right." Kellyn mumbled irritably, earning slap on the back of his head from Rhythmi.

"Okay, let's get started with our test of courage to welcome Kate."

Kate did not seem surprised at all when the students gathered around one of the common room tables cheered softly as to not alarm anyone nearby.

Keith turned towards Kate, smirking, "We just want you to prove you're brave. I had to do it before, too. It's no big deal." Keith's voice grew smug and he continued bragging, "But, you know, you do have that easily spooked look to you. No offense."

Kellyn had a reputation of being unsociable and coolly detached but even he had a hard time supressing the grin surfacing on his face. "But I seemed to recall you ditching me when I was doing my test of courage because you wet your pants."

Keith went bright red. "SHUT UP HAJIME!" He wailed indignantly.

Rhythmi practically had to surge forward to Keith's side and clasp her hand over his mouth. "Do you want Mr Kincaid to find out?" she scolded.

"Sorry."

"Anyway," Rhythmi continued. "The rules are simple. Among these students…" Rhythmi gestured to the band of students gathered around the table. "Four of us have hidden our stylers in four different places in the school."

Keith cut in, "The four stylers are in: Ms April's class, Mr Kincaid's class, the staff room and the library."

"Keith…-" Rhythmi shook her head, "Gather all four stylers, then put them in front of the door to the basement room. It's not hard or anything, but it's also not safe to go alone. That's why we've always had this one rule: the student seated next to the initiate has to go, too." Rhythmi explained.

"So, do the test and come back. I'm going to bed now, see you-," Before Kellyn could take a single step, an arm flung out and grasped the fabric at his elbow. Kellyn groaned, "What is it-…"

"Have you forgotten Kellyn? You're sitting next to Kate,"

This was going to be one long night.

… **(x)…**

The first room that Kate decided to go to was the staff room. The most bothersome one of them all. Immediately after coming in, Kellyn groaned and lightly slapped his palm over his face. Kate glanced at him questionably, "Something wrong Kellyn?"

Repeating what the blonde girl had told him, Kellyn said, "The hint for this room is that the styler in here doesn't stay still." Kate nodded understandingly, her eyes glazing over thoughtfully. "And that means we have a crap ton of running to do," Kellyn added begrudgingly under his breath.

"Not necessarily, and it doesn't seem too hard," Kate said in her characteristic dreamy voice although groggier than usual.

Kate had already figured out that Pichu was holding the styler, if Kellyn was impressed he certainly didn't show it. She strolled over quietly to the Pichu at the back of the room, holding out her hand to it as if offering a peace treaty. Pichu cautiously stepped back and upon realizing that Kate was not alone, it scampered away.

"Well," Kate said breathlessly but shortly. "It looks like a lot more effort than I first thought."

"Just get the styler and we can move on," Kellyn's voice was steadily rising with impatience.

"Alright."

Kate crawled over to the Pichu who peered at her timidly from under the table. As she reached out her hand once again, Pichu scurried away and Kate jumped to her feet quickly.

In fact, she jumped so abruptly that she noisily smacked on her head on the desk and the papers from it drifted gracefully to the floor.

"Hitomi! It's getting away!"

"Right!" Kate ran after the small rodent, holding her head soothingly. However, Kellyn watched in sudden panic as her foot caught on a document on the floor and her body fell forward.

Kate was deadly silent, not even shrieking or yelping in surprise. Before Kellyn could even stop himself, he darted forward, leaping over the furniture and sweeping Kate into his arms before she could hit the floor.

The Pichu observed from the top shelf of an open cabinet with intrigue.

"Goddammit Hitomi," Kellyn snapped. "Watch yourself, will you?"

Kate fell silent, nodding mutely. Her eyes scanned the room for the Pichu, as though she expected the tiny rodent to run off as soon as her gaze locked onto it. She wasn't far off either, now that the pokémon was clearly aware of their presence it was alert and cautious.

"Kellyn," She whispered. The sound of his name rolling off her tongue made him straighten his spine, the awkward tingle evoked Kellyn to become painfully aware of the fact _he didn't want to let go of her_.

But he did, mustering his strength to fake nonchalance as he let her feet gently back on level ground. She smiled graciously in that way of hers that Kellyn berated himself for remembering. Then her fingers were wrapped around his wrist and she was dragging him around the room with no resistance.

"I wanted the capture to be quick and peaceful," said Kate. "But it we'll have to do this the hard way."

At last, after many more laps around the staff room, with a styler laying forgotten on the floor, Kate released the Pichu and watched it hop away from the room. Regardless that it had taken almost _twenty_ minute to reclaim the first styler, Kate was enthusiastic.

Retrieving the styler, Kellyn tucked away the gadget into his back pocket and said, "Where next?"

"The library is the closest, I suppose we'll go there."

The sounds of their footsteps echoing through the open building had Kellyn on edge. Not because he feared the dark like Keith did, but rather because no matter how many times he'd been out of the dorms late at night, Kellyn would never get used to the eerie sensation that ran up his arms and legs each time he took a step.

The night was crisp and the biting cold nipped at his skin. Kellyn ran his hands across his skin, craving the heat that the friction would provide. Kate was beside him, shivering in her uniform (which had less layers than the boy's uniform) and her teeth chattering from behind her hands. Peculiarly, Kellyn was mildly enjoying the test of courage.

Peering into the library from a window, Kate's breath frosted up the frigid glass. "Wait here, I'll get some pokémon to perform a target clear."

Kellyn nodded numbly, the freezing air really was getting to his head.

"Capture on!"

From the entrance of the library, his eyes were fixated on Kate. She was a few steps away now, her feet planted firmly to the ground and her arms moving in precise movements. Her styler followed every movement, the light of the capture light lit up its path and illuminated the space around her. In the center of the circle the capture line created, a Bidoof feinted attacks at the line.

Kate knew very well how Bidoof very rarely attacked a capture line and utilized her knowledge of it to her advantage. Just watching her in the darkness of the night, dancing with her styler in the blue light, Kellyn found himself unable to turn away.

He cursed himself for noticing how her brows narrowed in concentration and her dreamy smile vanishing as she tightened her lips. Wasn't she just capturing a Bidoof?

"Kellyn." She waved her hand and he blinked sharply.

"Yes?"

"We're moving onto Ms April's class. You spaced out."

"You mean you already got the one in the library?"

Kate nodded and Kellyn felt incredibly idiotic.

"Oh."

It was as if the broken remnants of the wooden crates lying at his feet only served to further prove his stupidity. Kellyn raked his fingers through his hair mindlessly, glancing up at Kate, he nodded then said, "Shall we go then?"

… **(x)…**

Ms April's class, despite being a regular location in Kellyn's unchanging routine was quite creepy. The floorboards creaked eerily under their feet, as if a Crobat would burst from the ground from their feet or the floor would give in from beneath them. The sliding doors were louder than usual, the darkness appearing more bleak and despairing towards the back of the room.

Maybe Kellyn was paranoid. Perhaps he was. He wouldn't have minded if he was if he was with anybody else but Kate Hitomi who could seemingly wander into the place oblivious to any fear she may be feeling and her head held high. Scanning the room, sweeping the layout; Kellyn could glimpse five wooden crates much like those that appeared in the library earlier.

Recalling Rhythmi's 'hints to give to Kate', he said, "A hint."

Though it wasn't a question, Kate gave him a quick side glance yearning for information.

"It's something that wasn't here during the daytime."

"I would've thought that would be obvious," Kate mused.

"It is," Kellyn said lowly.

The first box Kate shattered lay behind the chairs and desks at the left of the room, next to a fake potted plant. Making use of the Bidoof she'd caught earlier parading aimlessly around the hallways, Kate stepped back in surprise when a Budew emerged from the fractured remnants of the crate and attacked. Budew was frightened and panicked, only calming down when Kate's capture line completed the final loop around its form and brought it back to its senses.

The Budew however, refused to leave even when Kate released it.

"I think its affection is endearing," Kate assured. She blinked and gave a dotty smile in which Kellyn flushed, turning away and pointing stiffly at another crate.

The next crate, on the far right of the room near the sliding door held captive another pokémon rather than the styler they were looking for. It was a Bidoof, and how it had even managed to fit into the crate was beyond Kellyn. It was a fat little thing with a bulging stomach and puffed up cheeks. Kate didn't even need to capture the beaver-like pokémon as it dashed stupidly into another crate, obliterating it before jumping out an open window, never to be seen again.

Submerging from a flurry of splinters and wooden planks was a Pichu, dazed and agitated from a random pokémon almost killing it. However, Kate was a student at the ranger school for a reason, her capture line drew quick, swift loops and within seconds, the Pichu scampered away through the window into the dense forestry outside.

On their fourth crate, the styler finally rolled away from the broken crate fragments and gleamed under the moonlight.

Her beaming smile was almost blinding.

"There's one more styler left," she reminded him.

… **(x)…**

"This is Mr Kincaid's classroom," Kellyn said as his fingers grazed the handle of the door.

"Yes, it is."

Kellyn's hand clasped the handle tightly.

"Hint number four:" he began. "There's going be a lot of pokémon attacking us in this next room."

"Thanks for the warning Kellyn." She leaned down, patted the Budew softly and it waddled off in understanding.

"Just hurry up and find that styler."

The next moment was like a blur. The door flew open and they met with almost a dozen eyes gazing in surprise at them, then agitation. Both Kellyn and Kate leapt into action, pulling out their stylers and leaping over random tables and chairs scrawled across the room.

Kate was agile, like a cat hunting its prey. By no means however, was she graceful with her movements. Her turns were sharp and jerky but practical.

Kellyn would really end up killing himself if he kept staring at Kate any longer.

He ducked under a swooping Zubat and in reflex, knocking it out of the air and incapacitated it temporarily. As it lay writhing on the floor, Kellyn turned almost instantly at the sound of a loud bang of tables and chairs. Kate seemed to have slipped through a gap between two tables as she was escaping a rather large Zubat with large fangs that almost blinded the thing.

Her body was protectively sheltered by the table and Kellyn felt a uncomfortable, sharp tug at his stomach pulling him towards Kate.

"H-Hitomi! Get up!" He shouted instead.

If Kate hadn't responded with the swift upheaval of her body, Kellyn would've been genuinely worried (Shut up, he wasn't worried). She jumped at the Zubat violently, pulling out her capture styler as it charged at her.

Before the thing could dig its huge fangs into her arm, the blue line of light looped around it expertly and Kellyn couldn't help but let out a huge sigh of _annoyance_ not relief, definitely not relief.

And out of the corner of his eye, the light of Kate's capture line refracted off something shiny in the darkness. Had he been looking in that direction, it may have even blinded him.

"Hitomi! The final styler is on your right, on top of the cupboard." He dodged a charging, agitated Bidoof and pulled out his styler, successfully capturing it.

"Thanks!"

In the next moment, the final styler was in her hand and she was dashing madly towards the classroom door. Kellyn had no complaints as he followed suit, slamming the door to the classroom behind rather forcefully.

… **(x)…**

"This wasn't here, last time I was down here." Kellyn said ambiguously and Kate stared at him in strange fascination as they reached the final step leading to the basement.

There were two crates and two log obstacles, Kellyn couldn't help but let his thoughts to the fact that bringing the heavy looking logs into the basement being a waste of effort, especially since this was just a test of courage created by and for students.

"You've been down here before?"

"Keith's pulled me down here to play some jokes on Mr. Kincaid," Kellyn waved her off absentmindedly.

Kate nodded, "I see." She jerked her head at the box, "The Bidoof you captured earlier in Mr Kincaid's classroom could come in handy here."

"You don't need to tell me that." Kellyn growled irritably.

"Just a friendly reminder." She answered delicately.

Then the crates were only shards at their feet and albeit destroyed, Kate and Kellyn still stood in front of the two logs.

"I guess Zubat will be able to take care of this." She commented in her faraway voice, Kellyn didn't bother to say anything.

"Say, Kellyn…" She said as the zubat cut away at the wood. Kellyn grunted, signalling his focused attention. "When you said you don't like me-…"

"I don't." Kellyn deadpanned, though his voice wavered slightly.

"Why?"

"I-," he paused, asking himself just _why_ he didn't like her and _why_ his body seemed to have a negative reaction to the proclamation. "Do I really need a reason to?"

Kate shrugged, her voice dreamy and unchanged, "I suppose not, but I just want to let you know that I won't antagonize you for it."

Kellyn found himself in mild shock. "What do you mean you won't? You shouldn't try to get along with someone that hates-…" His voice broke off, he swallowed and continued. " _Dislikes you…_ "

"I'm the same as you. Do I really need a reason to?" Kate echoed.

She said no more and Kellyn was left in to churn his thoughts. Peculiarly, Kellyn found that all he could see in this dark and lonely basement was Kate. Only Kate, the world was lost around him and she was his salvation. He could only hear, only see her.

A small part of him realized that the uncomfortable feeling he got around her held an underlying layer of comfort he had never known. It was pleasant.

Why was he trying to convince himself that he disliked her again?

"Hitomi." Kellyn called and Kate stopped as the Zubat finished hacking its teeth at the wood and flew out the basement. "I don't dislike you. I just…" He paused, "Don't think we're friends." He said uncertainly.

Kate finally turned around, her eyes shining in happiness and that wistful smile that made his insides dance in pleasure (no, it was not discomfort he realized) beaming brightly.

"I thought as much." She said it as dreamily as always but Kellyn felt like he could remember it for years to come.

So when they placed the stylers in front of the basement door, got ambushed by Gastly and chased out of the basement by Mr Kincaid, Kellyn's fingers curled around her small wrist gently as they dashed away and up the stairs back to the dormitory rooms. He was grinning brightly like a stupid idiot, but that was how he felt around her.

And he accepted it.

* * *

 **Edited:** _11.02.2017 (pronoun tweaks, word adaption to the American dictionary, minor typo-fixes)_

 **Edited:** _15.02.2017 (capitalization-fixes, minor typo-fixes, adjective tweaks)_

 **Approximate Word Count:** _3300 words_

 **A/N:** _Hey guys! Thanks for the constructive criticism last chapter and the support for the next chapter! I am absolutely stoked that anyone even bothered to review XD. This chapter was a bit harder to write to be completely honest. It was so hard to find the words I wanted to use! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next will be up between a week and month like last time. See you next time!_


	3. Chapter 3

**If I Could Reach You**

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 **Summary:** _She was clumsy, airheaded, useless and unworthy of becoming a ranger; but then why couldn't he stop caring about her? That reckless, carefree, selfless idiot._

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 **Disclaimer:** _Nothing belongs to me except the general storyline._

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 **Categories:** _Romance, Friendship, Adventure, Drama, Humor_

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 **A/N:** _Hey guys! Thanks for all the reviews last time. It really motivated me to write this chapter. Anyway… This chapter is where my original storyline is going to start. While I will follow the cannon events of Shadow of Almia, my original storyline will be the secondary events to the story. Anyway… Enjoy!_

 **.**

 **LucidClockwork**

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 **.**

 **Chapter 3**

* * *

… **(x)…**

To Hajime,

Thanks for writing, a part of the wall has been lowering its security lately, I was able to get many. Some of them remind me of you and it makes me frown.

I hope you're making the right choice here.

From Sugihara.

 **...(x)…**

"What are you reading Kellyn?"

"Just a letter!" Kellyn said hurriedly, stuffing the crumpled letter back into the pits of his pockets and hiding its contents from the curious eyes of Keith Dazzle. The letter was short and vague but Kellyn understood the meaning. He knew that Sugihara would've written a longer letter if he could but from fear of it being intercepted, the letter was written the way it was.

A month after the night of the test of courage, Kellyn found himself growing fonder of Kate Hitomi and in turn, the blonde girl too. The fact is that he'd even bothered remembering the girl's name, Rhythmi. Coming from Kellyn, it was a big deal.

While he did get to know Rhythmi better, it was Kate Hitomi that intrigued him

Kate Hitomi was a strange individual, she was a natural people magnet and everyone around her seemed to like her. Even Kellyn himself couldn't find the will to hate her, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself. Kate was like a cloud, carefree and airheaded.

She had no idea her whimsical, clueless smiles and dreamy voice made his head buzz and his world stop.

"Keith, do you have a cold?" Kate asked as the classroom door slid open and she stepped over the metal threshold, Rhythmi trailing behind her.

Keith laughed, "It freaks me out how you manage to notice everything. I'm pretty sure I hid it well."

Kellyn shuffled his chair away and Keith's laughter broke.

"What are you doing Hajime?" Keith's eyes narrowed to slits.

"It's a habit," Kellyn said uninterestedly, moving his chair ever further. "My body just darts away in the presence of the sickly and dangerous. It's like a survival instinct."

"Kellyn!" Keith growled.

Rhythmi giggled and placed a hand on Keith's shoulder in fake sympathy. "Oh boy Keith, how are you going to become a 'world saving' pokémon ranger if you just kill everything around you with your disease?"

"It isn't a disease! It's the common cold!" Keith protested.

Kate shook her head furiously, her dreamy voice getting as serious as it could be. "It's as about dangerous a stench of a group of Muk, and someone could pass out from it."

Kellyn and Rhythmi nodded in complete agreement.

"Even you Kate?!" Keith spluttered, flabbergasted. "I thought you would be on my side!"

"I tell no lies." She replied simply. "It will only get worse if you ignore it."

Keith glared venomously at Kellyn, who spun his pen with a mischievous smirk. "Hajime!"

Then the idiot actually leapt at Kellyn and the latter, stunned in surprise, had no time to dodge the flying Keith. Both boys landed in a tangled pile of limbs, the furniture toppling around them and the sounds of scraping chair legs echoing through the room.

"Get off me you moron!" Kellyn hissed.

Keith flipped them so that he was on top, pinning Kellyn to the floor. "I'm teaching you a little life lesson!"

Luckily, Keith's grip was weak and Kellyn pulled his limbs out of his grip, instead clasping his hands firmly on his shoulders to push him back.

So that's how Ms. April found them. Fortunately, being the teacher of this particular class for more than six months, she only huffed mildly.

"Be sure not to hurt anyone else around you." Ms April instructed, as if their fight had come as no surprise and it hadn't. Anything involving Keith and Kellyn failed to surprise her anymore.

Keith grinned brightly and Kellyn only rolled his eyes in amusement. As both boys picked themselves up and the rest of the class cleaned up the damage around them, Ms April set down her steaming coffee, sipping quietly. Within minutes, everyone settled down and Ms April set her drink aside and stood, addressing the class.

"Okay, I have a question for everyone. What day is it today?" She asked, gesturing to everyone in the room.

"Outdoor Class!"

Keith leaned over, muttering in a quiet breath. "This is why I couldn't stay back in the dorms today, Hajime!" He hissed.

Kellyn rolled his eyes. "I'm sure the ranger would've just wanted you to miss outdoor class."

Keith ignored him. "No way we'd forget outdoor class!" He hollered.

"He's wrote up thirty-eight questions since we started school just for this moment." Kellyn deadpanned.

"It's nice to see you're so ecstatic for this." Ms. April only laughed at Keith's enthusiasm. "Okay, class, let's go outside. We'll gather in Ascension Square."

Everyone was excited, Keith especially. After the class vacated to Ascension Square, only Rhythmi, Kate and Kellyn remained in the class, the former two chattering happily about the day's plans.

"You say that a ranger comes to visit us," Kate said. "I wonder what kind of person they are."

"Oh I'm sure the ranger is a wonderful person, they're a ranger after all!"

Kate shook her head but smiled nonetheless. "It isn't wise to generalise personality on occupation."

"What do you mean?"

Kate's eyes shone in sadness. "Not everyone becomes a ranger because they want to help people and pokémon alike. Becoming a ranger means you have a chance to gain fame, glory and respect; Some people choose to be a ranger because of it."

Kellyn stood up so abruptly that the legs of his chairs screeched harshly against the planks of the floor, both girls winced at the sound, glancing questionably at Kellyn.

"Come on." His voice came out colder than intended, "Outdoor Class is starting soon, if you're going to chat do it another time."

Rhythmi seemed to be at a loss of words, her mouth opened and closed like a child blowing bubbles in a pool, as if debating whether to speak up or not. She chose not to question his actions thankfully, instead she grabbed at Kate's wrist. Rhythmi nodded a polite farewell to Kellyn before vacating the classroom to join the rest of her peers.

Kate took a single glance back at Kellyn, her face was more serious than he'd ever seen. Her mouth hardened to a thin line, she said nothing yet she said everything. As she was tugged away like a ragdoll, Kellyn stood silently and alone in the solitary classroom.

It was like that for a few more minutes, Kellyn contemplated his situation, the all-knowing look in Kate's eyes before deciding to leave to join the rest of the class in Ascension Square.

… **(x)…**

"You're late."

"No, I'm marvellous." Kellyn waved him off, Keith raised a brow.

"Was that a joke I hear from the 'oh-so-serious' Kellyn Hajime?"

Kellyn punched his friend lightly in the shoulder. "At least I'm here, don't get your panties in a twist."

Ms. April shook her head disapprovingly at Kellyn's tardiness, expressing a reminder to be on classes on time.

"I understand Ms. April." Kellyn said politely.

Principal Lamont straightened his posture, he dusted his suit off the dust from the pledge stone he'd previously been leaning on. He only smiled as cheerfully as he usually did, his dimples exposed as he began to address Ms April's class. "Well, it appears as if everyone's with us." He paused, "Let's get this Outdoor Class started."

Principal Lamont gestured to the ranger. He was quite a gangly looking man that couldn't have been much older than the students at the ranger school. He had a head full of curly brown locks that looked to be a struggle to tame. The ranger left it in an afro, a tall looking afro that doubled the size of his head.

"This is Crawford. He's a graduate of this ranger school and now he's a Pokémon ranger in Vientown." Lamont introduced.

Kellyn nodded his head mindlessly, the man must have been a part of the previous batch of graduates. He was probably only a year or two older but nonetheless his superior.

The man waved brightly at the students, "I'm Crawford! Nice to meet you, everyone!"

"Thank you for coming!" The students echoed back.

Kellyn narrowed his eyes at Crawford's afro, the huge ball of hair seemingly moving on its own. His cautious personality made him one of the two students to not express any surprise when a green looking vegetable popped out of his curls, the other student being Kate.

Kate never seemed to express any sort of surprise though, her doe-eyed expression remained passive and faraway.

"This here's my partner pokémon, Budew." Crawford said as he held up the green cabbage and Kellyn recognised its appearance from the test of courage a month ago.

A Taillow, Bellosom, Combee and Cherubi followed Budew out of Crawford's afro and Kellyn wondered just how much the man's afro could store. The ball of hair at least listened to the laws of physics, the afro deflating to half its original size.

"And these are my friend pokémon." Crawford introduced.

"Wow, so cool!"

Ms April grasped Crawford's hand in a firm handshake and smiled nostalgically, "Hi, Crawford! It's been a long time! But that giant explosion of an afro…" Her voice trailed off as not to offend Crawford.

Kellyn agreed wholeheartedly.

"I think I liked your hairstyle the way it was before." Ms. April offered weakly.

The class chuckled lightly and Crawford blushed but grinned as he shook his old teacher's hand.

Ms April continued. "It makes me nervous to see that kind of jumbled outgrowth of anything. But that's enough of that. We're all here, so let's begin!"

The class waited anxiously, their hands twitching by their sides amusingly. Kellyn regarded the ranger with fascination, never had he seen a proper ranger in person and colour but that was a story for another time.

"Let's get to Outdoor Class's main event: The question-&-answer session of terror! Let the questioning begin!"

Hands shot up like lightening and the poor ranger was overwhelmed with pleads of, 'Pick me! Pick me!' and hands that wriggled desperately like worms in a trap. Crawford chose a short, stout boy that sat three seats away from Kellyn in class. The boy reminded him of a beaver, with his giant buckteeth and rounded body.

"Crawford, why did you decide to become a ranger?" He asked.

Crawford scratched his head and grinned brightly, "Well, it's because I love pokémon." He said affectionately, "I wanted to become friends with them. You know, to bond with them." Crawford's hand idly ruffled his partner pokémon head. "Besides, it's a cool job!"

"That's the same way I feel!" The boy said. "I'm glad I asked you!"

This time, Crawford picked a black-haired girl that was short and petite. Her short hair was split in the middle of her head into two small pigtails. Kellyn believed the girl's name was Candice or Candy, he'd never bothered to remember his classmates' names after all.

"I have a question! What kinds of pokémon are difficult to capture?"

"Well, speaking only for myself… Psychic and Ghost-group pokémon, yeah."

Kellyn faintly remembered the horde of Gastly that attacked both Kate and himself in the basement a month earlier. He found himself wondering where they had come from, even if he was a month late.

Crawford continued, "They have this habit of going poof and disappearing during captures."

Kellyn experienced the ghost type pokémon first hand, he'd known just how difficult it was two capture them. His usual four-second average of capturing pokémon had been lengthened to ten seconds much to his annoyance. At least he'd beat Kate, Kellyn supposed.

"Ghost pokémon do that?!"

Rhythmi spoke up next, her hand wagged vigorously in the air and Crawford finally seemed to notice it. "Me! I'm next! My name is Rhythmi! There isn't anything I'd rather do than become an operator. Do you think I can become one? You can tell I will become one, can't you?"

"Well, it's not like-," Crawford started.

"Rhythmi…" Keith cut in indignantly. "Are you maybe confusing our ranger with a fortune teller or something?" He said mockingly.

Rhythmi frowned and said nothing.

"Excuse me, ranger. How about me? Will I become a ranger?" Keith asked.

Just as Crawford began to speak again, this time Rhythmi cut in angrily. "Say, aren't _you_ confusing the ranger with a fortune-teller?!"

"Rhythmi-," Keith growled.

"Keith! Rhythmi!" Ms. April said sharply, Keith and Rhythmi gulped, looking at each other in pure rage. "I'm issuing you both a detention for disrupting what is meant to be a pleasant class that you'll be missing the rest of!"

Keith's eyes were so wide that they could've fallen out of their sockets. "But Ms.-!"

"You heard me Keith," Ms. April said before her eyes softened. "Believe me, I don't wish to do this but you should be showing manners to a guest."

"I think you two will become what you want with no problem, Keith-," Crawford paused, making sure that he was saying the right name. "Your strong shines through loud and proud and Rhythmi, I'm sure you'll make it."

Their faces lit up like stars and Ms. April ushered them away. Rhythmi and Keith muttered a small apology to Crawford, they trailed up the stone steps away from the Ascension Square with an extra hop between their steps, followed by Ms. April who smiled apologetically to the ranger.

Crawford laughed awkwardly, "Well that was not what I expected out of today."

Principal Lamont apologised on behalf of Keith and Rhythmi again and Kellyn vowed to himself that he would slap Keith upside the head for causing more problems for everyone. Kellyn's hands were shaky and unsteady, but he steeled himself as he raised his hand.

"My question." Kellyn said quietly, Crawford glanced at him questionably, "Who can rangers save?"

"That's-…"

"Do rangers only save people they think deserve to be saved? Can these types of people even become rangers?"

"No person is either good or bad, there are always shades of gray." Crawford said simply, his light-hearted personality turning serious. "So it's impossible to decide whether someone deserved to be saved or not, and rangers save everyone, regardless of who they are."

It was a small comfort, Kellyn realised. Those simple words of reassurance was all he needed, Kellyn's shoulders finally released its tension and stiffness. So he could still save Sugihara…

That spine-tingling sensation lingered in his spine for minutes after he felt it. Kellyn spun around, feeling eyes on his back and met the fogged eyes of Kate who blinked at being caught. It was her eyes, Kellyn didn't know how to describe how he felt when Kate's expression softened and a bright smile shone through, it was like heaven…

"So on to my question." A tall, lanky looking girl said, "Have you ever any mistakes?"

Crawford expression turned sheepish and nostalgic, "Mistakes, you ask? That's all there was when I started. Like the time I dumped juice all over my styler."

The class giggled and Crawford blushed bright red, "That was nasty." He added.

Crawford went on, "Or that time I tried to capture a stuffed doll. Oh, and another time, I put my ranger uniform on top of pajamas…" His eyes were suddenly wide and his voice was indignant, "…Hold up, don't make me say these things!"

The class was in gut-wrenching laughter, even Kellyn couldn't keep a straight face as his face crumbled and he chuckled alongside his peers.

"What makes you glad that you became a ranger?"

Crawford smiled fondly, "I'd have to say the big smiles we get to see after helping people or pokémon in need."

"I hope I get to see smiles like that soon!"

"That's the spirit!" Crawford said. "Keep that spirit burning, and you'll be sure to succeed."

As Crawford turned to the rest of class, Kellyn felt the spine-tingling sensations of Kate's stares leave his back. Strangely, he felt himself missing her gaze. While he'd felt like a deer in the headlights, the light shining upon him was warm and embracing and he was addicted to it. Kate had turned her attention to Crawford, who know addressed the entire class. Kellyn followed suit.

"You know, I'm looking forward to the chance of working with you folks someday. Keep a positive attitude and work hard!"

"We will!"

A plain looking girl with a pixie cut raised her hand, "My question next! Ranger Crawford, has Ms. April ever been angry with you?"

Crawford laughed in reply. "I'll say she has! She used to blow up at me once a day!"

Ms. April stepped and placed her hands on her hips. "Now you know that isn't true. It wasn't once a day. It had to be at least three times a day."

The class giggled yet again and Ms. April shook her head in disapproval of her own words. "…But, that's not the whole story. Crawford was a wonderful student. He kept everyone's spirits up with his kindness and sense of humor."

There was a sudden beeping noise, interrupting the Ms April. The class went quiet and Crawford picked up his styler.

"Voicemail! Voicemail!" A deep voice reverberated from the styler and some students looked on in awe. "Crawford, do you head me? It's me, Barlow!"

Kellyn recognised the name, he knew it very well but he kept quiet with the rest of the class, listening and waiting.

"There's a Mantine hurt off the eastern shore of School Island. The Mantine apparently ran into a cargo ship. Luana's headed to the school by boat for you. Join up with her, Crawford, and head to the site immediately. We're going to need your help on this one!"

Crawford's slouchy posture straightened and he spoke with clearness and confidence, "Roger, Leader!"

"So cool..." Some students echoed, mainly the boys. The girls however looked worried and horror-stricken.

"Please save that Mantine!"

Crawford laughed in reassurance, he pulled out his styler and tossed it into the air. He spun before catching it, the styler now shone and a pink radiance surrounded the cord of the styler. "Hold on, Mantine! We're coming to save you!"

Crawford's friend pokémon and his partner jumped into his afro and Crawford stared apologetically at the principal. "Principal Lamont! Since the students are so worried, I'll report back on how the mission went. I'm sorry I have to cut the Outdoor Class short like this!"

"There's no need to apologize." Principal Lamont said, "Besides, listen. Isn't that your boat?"

The boat was now on standby beside the school dock, the ranger who Barlow had called Luana leaned off the edge of the guard railing at the stern of the boat, waving her hand furiously to catch Crawford's attention. "Crawford, get on, quickly! We're headed to the site!"

As she hurried back into the bow, Crawford hurried to the edge of the dock, "All right, students, keep working at it! Let's meet again somewhere sometime!"

He jumped into the stern and the boat steered away from the school, speeding away into the horizon with its fast engines. The class was silent for a moment, watching the boat vanish from view. The beaver-looking boy was the first to speak.

"It's like we got to see an awesome scene!" He said.

Candy or Candice or whatever her name was stared unblinkingly into the sea. "The boat's already tiny on the horizon…"

Ms April clapped her hands together, grabbing the attention of all the students, "Well, everyone! That was the shortest Outdoor Class ever, but it certainly was the most gripping and realistic of all Outdoor Classes, too. Okay, everyone! Let's return to our classrooms."

"Wait Kellyn."

Kate tugged on the fabric of his jumper and stared up into his eyes with no hesitation, Kellyn found the whole thing oddly endearing yet extremely embarrassing. The rest of their class had already vanished from the view of Ascension Square and they were the only two people left in the area. The fact that he was alone with Kate made his heart beat in a strange rhythm and quite erratically too.

"Why don't we make a pledge right here by the Pledge Stone?"

The beating in his chest missed a step, "What?"

Kate tilted her head questionably, her eyes were crinkling in curiosity. "Why not? I heard that you and Keith made one at the beginning of the school year. Why don't we make one together?"

Kellyn's mouth went dry and he nodded numbly. Kate smiled in that dotty way of hers that made his heart flutter. "Let's pledge to each other that we'll accomplish our dreams together."

Together sounded like a nice word. Kate gently held his hand into hers, and their skin molded together perfectly. She raised their hands into the air, as if she was promising the world.

"Let's be rangers together."

Together.

… **(x)…**

"You know, I still have thirty-eight question."

"I know Keith."

"I think I'm going to find those answers myself!"

"That's nice."

"You said you wanted to become an operator, right?"

"Oh boy Keith, I didn't know that you paid attention to things!"

"Oh shut up Rhythmi, but anyway, as I was saying. Are you truly going to believe that you'll become an operator just because the ranger said so? There are no guarantees anywhere."

"You think I don't know that?"

"I do wonder though…"

"What is it Keith?"

"Kate and Kellyn are taking an awfully long time to get back to the dorms, class is already over."

"They would make a cute couple don't you think?"

"Yeah…"

"Keith?"

"...Yeah."

* * *

 **Approximate Word Count:** _3900 words_

 **A/N:** _Hey guys, I'm a few days late on my update. The deadline was one month and I took a month and a few days, woops. A lot of things happened that kept delaying my update but don't worry, nothing was personal issues and problems and all of it were purely selfish reasons. I got Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild and I've been playing it nonstop, it's hard to come back to writing after playing such a fun game! I've also been studying for a lot of tests and finishing up a lot of assignments. I say this is selfish because I tend to be a student that does additional work just for fun rather than working on something people are looking forward to. Anyway, I'm sorry that this chapter is mostly just copy and paste from the games but there isn't much I can do, the outdoor class cutscene was just too awfully long and extravagant. I did however, add a bit of foreshadowing for things to come. I hope you will stay for the next update!_


	4. Chapter 4

**If I Could Reach You**

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 **Summary:** _She was clumsy, airheaded, useless and unworthy of becoming a ranger; but then why couldn't he stop caring about her? That reckless, carefree, selfless idiot._

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 **Disclaimer:** _Nothing belongs to me except the general storyline._

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 **Categories:** _Romance, Friendship, Adventure, Drama, Humor_

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 **A/N:** _Hey guys, the ranger school arc is almost over! This will most likely be the one of the last chapters of this arc before I dive straight into Kellyn's ranger duties at Vientown. Enjoy~_

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 **LucidClockwork**

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 **Chapter 4**

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… **(x)…**

 _Dear Hajime,_

 _Things haven't gone as planned. Everyone is unharmed but they found out. Please be careful._

 _From Sugihara_

… **(x)…**

"Keith isn't here today?"

"No, he isn't."

"Neither is Kate." Rhythmi frowned.

It was Spring in Almia, a time when Almia was blessed with stunning sights of nature. The region was home to the exclusive Almia willow, the sight of the beautiful trees blooming their unusual bluish-green tinted leaves always brought tourists to Almia. These plentiful trees made beautiful mirages of the salt sea, a splendid sight to behold. Kellyn was not native to Almia, this was his first time seeing Almia in the Spring. Needless to say, Kellyn was delighted with mother nature albeit he didn't show it outwardly.

"Do you think Keith's cold finally caught up to him? It's been a month" Rhythmi asked curiously.

Kellyn snorted and shook his head. "Not yet.

The morning was crisp and cold, with the temperature predicted to rise considerably as the day went on. It made sense that the weather was still so gloomy in the Spring, it was only early-April afterall. Most of the students all dressed lightly and although shivering, knew that they would not regret the decision. Even Kellyn had only put on a scarf for an extra layer of warmth.

Kellyn breathed out a puff of air, watching his breath steam before his eyes into white mist before dancing out of existence. His nose and his cheeks were pink and warm, though Kellyn insisted that he'd lost most feeling in his facial features. It wasn't his fault that he was sensitive to the cold. Kellyn slouched in his chair and buried the lower half of his face into his black, wool-knitten scarf.

Kellyn was grumpy because of the weather yet pleased about the scenery the weather had allowed. He must be bipolar.

As Rhythmi finally retreated to her own seat, sensing Kellyn's wish to be left alone, Kellyn allowed himself to glance over to his left where the table was vacant and strangely neat. Knowing Kate to be a individual who would rather let things remain lost than to find it, the missing uncleanliness urked Kellyn despite the fact that he was a 'prick who had a stick in his ass' as Keith had kindly put it.

Kellyn found it strange that out of the two vacant seats beside himself, he was grimacing over one more than the other.

"Everyone, your attention, please."

How Ms. April managed to not shiver in her pencil skirt and sleeveless top was a question Kellyn desired to know the answer of.

"Do you remember that Mantine Crawford went to rescue during our Outdoor Class?" Ms. April asked.

The class nodded in unison.

"The Ranger Union took it in and nursed it back to health. This morning, the Mantine was safely returned to the sea!"

The class broke into a flutter of chatter and conversations. Ms. April smiled before reminding the class to quieten down.

"Now that we're all feeling good about that news, let's get our lesson started. Today, as scheduled, the topic is the teamwork between rangers and operators."

Ms April lay down a bright red styler with a yellow stripe on Rhythmi's table, the latter whom's eyes shone in awe and excitement.

"If there is no trust between a ranger and the operator, it's disasterous. Even a simple Mission could become impossible to manage."

Next, Ms. April pulled out a similar looking styler and placed it on Kellyn's desk. It was expected, both Kate and Keith were strangely missing and Kellyn was the only student left in the classroom that was taking the ranger course.

"Rangers go where there are no roads to guide them. It's the job of the Operator to light the way for rangers where no roads exist." Ms. April continued.

Ms. April strolled back to the front of the class and gestured to every student in the class. "Of course, that doesn't literally mean holding a flashlight for rangers in the field." Ms. April joked. The class chuckled lightly before allowing their teacher to continue.

"Operators support rangers in other ways, like recharging their stylers. Not only that, operators provide rangers with information and advice. The operator reach out to rangers all over from the Union's operation room. Does anyone know that they call that communication system?"

Kellyn raised his hand automatically, "It's called voicemail, Miss." He recited.

"Correct!" Ms. April grinned from ear to ear, and Kellyn felt his ego inflate from the praise. "However, your school styler is not fitted with the voicemail feature."

Ms April kept her gaze on Rhythmi and Kellyn. "Kellyn, Rhythmi, I gave you two stylers with the voicemail feature turned on. The Ranger Union kindly let us borrow them for this lesson. This would not be possible if not for Principal Lamont, who was there on business and personally asked them himself. We'll use them today to demonstrate the field operations of rangers."

Ms. April's smile twisted into a frown, "I'll have to ask you, Kellyn, to take part in all the practicals we'll perform today. Everyone will get a turn but unfortunately Kate and Keith will not. I wouldn't ask you to continue doing this if those two were present; I'm terribly sorry for the inconvienence."

Kellyn shook his head pleasantly, "It's alright. I'll get more experience from this anyway."

Ms. April's frown was replaced with a light-hearted smile.

"It's not like either of those two to miss classes, especially on the same day. Well that's fine, we'll get Kellyn to play all parts."

Rhythmi pulled out the styler excitedly. "Oh, wow! I can communicate using this!" She cleared her throat before holding the styler close to her lips. "Hello? Can you hear me? This is Rhythmi. Come in, Ranger!"

"You don't need to shout!" Kellyn hissed, rubbing his earlobes in irritation.

Rhythmi's face twisted in confusion. "How else will you hear me?"

"We're in the same room and we're too close! I can hear you loud and clear without the styler!"

"Oh…" Rhythmi's brow scrunched up in realisation but it disappeared as soon as it came, replaced with the usual glint in her eyes. "Well, then, we should get farther apart and try again!" Rhythmi seemed a little too pleased about a her idea, Kellyn wondered what kind of technology she was raised with. Had she not ever used a cell phone?

As Rhythmi retreated to the outside of the classroom, her pace accelerated with an extra skip in her steps. Unfortunately, as Mr. Kincaid burst into the room, he translated this to running.

"Hey!" He growled, his booming voice startling Rhythmi as she stood stiffly straight. "No running in the classroom, either!"

"Yes sir!" Rhythmi saluted.

Mr. Kincaid narrowed his eyes. "Are you mocking me?..."

Luckily, he seemed to have business with Ms. April, completely forgetting Rhythmi's presence as he roughly pushed past her. "Ah, Ms. April, I'm awfully sorry to disrupt your class." Kellyn thought he didn't seem sorry at all.

"There is a small matter about which I would like to speak with Keith."

Ms. April's interest seemed to perk up as she made her way to a friendly distance from her co-worker. "Oh, well.. Both he and Kate are running late today. It's not like them, but-…"

"Late, you say…" Mr. Kincaid's voice raised an octave, though neither the students or Ms. April were even slightly phased. "You see, we have a problem on our hands." His voice was smug even and something unpleasant churned at the pit of Kellyn's stomach.

"We had a number of stylers stored in the staff room. Had, I say. Now the entire lot of them has disappeared." Kellyn didn't like where this conversation was headed, not one bit. "I've already confirmed the innocence of all my students regarding this. But that Keith boy is uncharacteristically absent from class, you say… And that strange Kate girl is too…"

"Perhaps it's taking them time to find a place to "stash" all those stolen stylers?"

"Mr. Kincaid." Kellyn wasn't one to usually interrupt conversations between teachers, nor one to eavesdrop. He liked to think of himself as cooly detached and never wasted his energy on trivial things such as gossip or small talk; but when he'd heard the teacher say Kate's name in such a distasteful manner and suspect her of all people to be a thief, a boiling fury overloaded his senses and his blood fumed in rage.

"How could you suspect two people of a crime if you have no evidence to prove so?" He asked coldly.

Rhythmi seemed to snap out of her daze as well and immediately jumped to her friend's defense. "And Keith is a prankster, but he's no thief! How could you even suspect Kate when she hasn't done a single thing for you to suspect her?"

Mr. Kincaid regarded the two teenagers in disdain and annoyance. "Oh, do be still!" He snapped, "Keith runs in the hallways, he sneaks into my office where he's not permitted… That other girl snuck into the basement the other day too! It doesn't matter how you think about them! It's only natural that they should be viewed with suspicion!"

As Rhythmi was about to interject Kellyn snorted, shaking his head with mock disappointment. "You fail to provide a motive to _why_ they would want to steal the stylers in the first place. Sure, they aren't perfect but you can't blame a petty thief for murder. Like how you can't blame a rule-breaker for thievery"

"Mr. Kincaid." Ms April cut in before the other teacher could retort. "Isn't this what you always preach? It's wrong to cast suspicion on others without proof?" She asked.

"May I have a little time? I will go look for Keith and your missing stylers." Ms. April said.

A beaver-like boy Kellyn learned was named Tim jumped out of his seat to Ms. April's side. "Ms. April, I'll help, too!"

Two other girls joined the boy.

"I'll go look upstairs!" One said.

"I'll look, too!"

Ms. April nodded her head graciously at her students.

Mr. Kincaid only glanced sharply at Kellyn, glaring harshly as the latter returned the favour. No more words were said as Mr. Kincaid pivoted on his heel and left the classroom with a loud slam of the sliding door. Kellyn's classmates and Ms. April also vacated the room, leaving Kellyn and Rhythmi alone together.

"Kellyn! Let's scour the schoolhouse from top to bottom. We have to prove Keith and Kate's innocence." Rhythmi added worriedly, "If anything comes up: voicemail. Okay?"

Yes, he would definitely prove Kate was innocent and rub in that haughty man's face. He would dig Mr. Kincaid's grave to the Sinnoh region for spitting on his friend's name like that.

Oh yeah, Mr. Kincaid suspected Keith too. For that, Kellyn would add spikes to the bottom of his grave.

… **(x)…**

When the familiar beeping sound of a styler snapped Kellyn out of a daze, he was reading someone's letters. More specifically, Kate's.

He was embarrassed to say the least, fumbling with the letters Kate had written to her younger sister and clumsily picking up the syler. Although it was only the styler, Kellyn felt as if he'd actually been caught in the girl's dormitory, invading his crush's privacy.

Wait what? Kellyn didn't have a crush on Kate! Shut up!

"Voicemail! Voicemail!" Rhythmi's voice boomed through the styler, Kellyn winced at the sheer volume of her voice.

"Oops that's right, I don't need to yell." Rhythmi giggled before she hurriedly continued on, "This is Rhythmi on the ground floor. Please come down to the front door! And hurry!"

"Roger that." Kellyn muttered lowly into the styler, hastily stuffing the letters under Kate's mattress where he had found them. If Rhythmi noticed any background noise, she didn't say a thing as the call disapated into static.

At the entrance of the school house, Rhythmi bowed low to Janice the caretaker before catching sight of Kellyn. She turned to him, face twisted with concern.

"I was getting set to feed the Bidoof in the school yard when I found a styler. Did either of you drop yours by any chance?" Janice temporarily paused, scanning Kellyn and Rhythmi's wrists, "…Nope, you've got yours on."

"Kellyn," Rhythmi said. "We should go look in the school yard." She turned to Janice, bowing in thanks once more as she followed Kellyn out to the icy school yard that wasn't quite snow but rather like a tundra in the Spring. The first thing he noticed was the literal sea of blueish-green leaves that captivated him but there was no time to admire the beauty of nature as Rhythmi tugged him across the field. She crouched to brush aside some ice to reveal the school styler, half-buried in the grass and dirt.

"Oh! Hey! Look at that!" Rhythmi whistled. "Isn't this one of the stylers that went missing from the staff room?"

Kellyn grabbed the styer, cleaning off the dirt and raised his brow. "You've got surprisingly good eyesight, I didn't see that at all."

Rhythmi faltered at his compliment, blushing in embarrassment, "It's an honor, I can't believe Captain Cold would compliment me. I'm _flattered_." She said, emphasising the word.

"I hate the cold." Kellyn deadpanned, he buried his face further into the scarf to prove so.

Rhythmi giggled, "How ironic." She heaved herself off the ground, brushing off stray pieces of wet grass amd dirt off her clothes. The ground was damp, Rhythmi tugged her sleeves over her hands to wipe the residue of melted ice off her skin. Kellyn followed suit. "There could be more on the ground, let's look around."

Kellyn nodded, "Let's. I'll be counting on your sharp eyes though."

Rhythmi smiled warmly, her eyes crinkling in appreciation.

"Another one." Rhythmi muttered, pointing at the pathway leading out of the school. Rhythmi picked up her pace, running toward the school styler. Kellyn could deduce it wasn't a great idea as Rhythmi slipped on the stone pathway that had been ice over in the frigid weather.

She squeaked, bracing herself for impact only for Kellyn to grab her wrist and tug her hard enough for her to regain her balance. The situation faintly reminded Kellyn of the test of courage he had done with Kate almost two months ago, although he had swept Kate up into his arms that time.

He didn't do that this time though, the fact that it was Rhythmi who stood in front of him rather than Kate had stopped him from crossing such boundries. That time was an automatic response, a reflex really, but then why didn't those reflexes kick in this time?

Why did he hold Kate like that if he could've just stopped her from falling by catching her wrist? It was strange that he was thinking about such things now of all times.

"Whew, thanks Kellyn." Rhythmi breathed, gently pulling her wrist of Kellyn's grasp. "A fall on hard stones wouldn't be nice."

Kellyn chuckled lightly, "You're almost as clumsy as Hitomi."

The tips of Rhythmi's ears burned bright red, "N-No one can be as clumsy as Kate!" She stuttered.

"I agree." Kellyn replied jokingly.

They were interrupted by a shrill scream and a loud crash. Rhythmi's eyes shot up in wariness and her head whipped around to face the bottom the stairs leading to the gates of the ranger school, her pale blonde curls bopping alongside her head.

"Let's go check what that was!" Rhythmi said as she leapt down the stairs in a flurry.

Kellyn couldn't resist grinning. "Slow down before you slip off the stairs into your grave!"

Rhythmi stopped, glaring over her shoulder, "Oh, shut up Kellyn!"

Kellyn only laughed lightheartedly in reply.

… **(x)…**

Kellyn and Rhythmi were greeted with a unfamiliar man cornered to a tree by Keith and Kate. Well, only Keith was really cornering the man, Kate stood to the side of the man and regarded him with her usual airiness, lacking the intimidating aura Keith had. Despite this, she was still preventing the man's escape by blocking his path.

"Keith! Kate! What are you two doing out here?!" Rhythmi asked in stunned surprise.

"Who is that?" Kellyn added, his eyes narrowing down to slits. He didn't like how shifty the man was, how his eyes darted left and right and how he was sweating bullets. He was definitely hiding something.

Keith turned to them, stupefied at their appearance. Kate welcomed them warmly and greeted the two as if it were any other day.

"Good morning Kellyn, Rhythmi."

"The guy's a stinking thief!" Keith interrupted, glaring angrily at the man who shifted backwards in wariness.

"Keith, calm down." Kate reprimanded, reaching out to grab his shoulder. Keith shook her hand away though as he huffed.

"He came creeping out of the staffroom so I called out to him. Then," Keith made a gesture with his hands, sweeping the air dramatically. "Bam! He was off and running!"

The man finally spoke up but something about his voice made Kellyn falter, this man sounded much too immature and childish to be an experienced thief. "Four on one's not fair!" He cried hysterically. "I'm scramming! Adios!"

Then he ran headfirst into a tree, stylers spilled out of his pocket like a water fountain and scattered across the icy grass. The man slipped and fell on his rear, wailing as he clutched his head in pain. "Dwah!"

To make matters even more hilarious, a Slakoth belly flopped tight on top of the man's face who started rolling in the grass to pry the pokémon off his face. "Bweh! Waaaaah! I can't see!" He screamed. "It's heavy! It hurts! It stinks! Heeeeeeeeeelp!"

Keith only collected all the stylers scattered around the man and held his stomach in laughter. "A Slakoth fell out of the tree!" Keith gasped and breathed, attempting to stifle his laughter. "It serves you right! That's what you get for being a thief!"

Keith's words stirred unpleasant memories for Kellyn, he found himself feeling sorry for the man. The thief was probably both embarrassed and ashamed. Kellyn knew that feeling very well, when he was called out for stealing an apple from a merchant instead of quietly going hungry and getting called out for it, his punishments were so severe that Kellyn shuddered just from the memory of it. And the fact was that it had happened no less than five times.

"Keith…" Kellyn said anxiously, "I don't think-…"

"Please!" The thief cried in agony, Kellyn could see blood leaking from under the Slakoth's claw and he cringed. "I won't do it again! Heeeeeeeeelp!"

"Let's go." Keith said, ignoring the man's pleas for help. Kellyn felt physically sick, frozen to the spot. "Who cares about a guy like that?"

"Keith!" Kate ordered, her voice stern, loud, firm and unwavering. Kellyn blinked in bewilderment, Kate was acting uncharacteristically mad. "What the heck are you saying? It's a ranger's job to help people in trouble!"

Keith's shock disapated into shame as his lip trembled, he dipped his head in shame. Rhythmi turned to Kellyn.

"Kellyn! Ple-… Kellyn? Hey! Kellyn, are you alright?"

He only gazed down at the man rolling on the ground with the Slakoth still clung to his face, frozen in horror.

"I'll capture it instead." Kate said, her styler shot from her wrist. Kate leapt past Kellyn and swept her arm across the air. A bright light emerged as the capture line faded, the Slokoth now laying passively on the grass next to the man who clutched his glasses and wiped the blood off his cheeks. Kellyn was brought back to his senses as soon as the man was no longer in pain.

"Whew… Aah… Fweh… Saved at last…" The man huffed. "Thank you for saving me."

"What's going on here?" Ms. April emerged from the base of the stone staircase, staring back and forth between her four students and the mysterious man lying next to a Slakoth with dried blood running down the side of his face. "You disappeared as well, so we were looking for you two, Kellyn and Rhythmi."

Ms April seemed to finally notice Keith and Kate's presence and the surprise showed on her face, "Oh, and here's Keith and Kate! And the stylers too!"

"Ms. April," Rhythmi said, glancing pointedly over her shoulder to the collapsed man lying against the tree. "This man is the thief who took the stylers."

Keith seemed to recover from his shame and instead, looked rather puzzled. "Yeah, why'd you steal our stylers? Do you know how important they are to us?"

The man's lip quivered and the corners of his eyes built up tears, clearly looking guilty for the hassel he had caused. "I… I'm sorry… I've always had this dream of becoming a ranger, but I grew up without doing anything about it…" The man began to blubber, his voice quaking with each word. "I had so many other dreams that I wanted to follow, but… I could never decide what I really wanted to do with my life, but the one dream I could never give up was to be a ranger…"

"I thought, maybe, if I had a styler, then I could do something about it, but-…"

"What are you saying?!" Ms. April interjected incredulously. "Please don't make me angry here! It doesn't matter how old you are. Even an adult can join our ranger school. With enough effort, even you can become a ranger."

"If you have a dream you can't let go of, it's up to you to make it real." Kate said, smiling carelessly and pleasantly. Ms. April looked to her in surprise, but grinned nonetheless.

"You took the words right from my mouth."

The man was now a blubbering mess of tears and smiles as he grasped Ms. April's shoulders in shock and happiness. "T…Teacher lady…" He cried. "I also got bewitched when I saw all those styler just sitting there… I was only hoping to get one but I ended up scooping the whole lot of them…"

Ms. April chuckled slowly and shook her head, "Just like the way it is with you and your dreams… You're greedy, aren't you? You should go home and really think about what you want to do."

Rhythmi tugged the man away from her teacher and gazed up it him with no ill intent. "Why not think about how you could become a ranger properly?"

The man sighed, rubbing his swollen forehead. "I'll do that."

"…"

"W-W-Wait a second?! G-Go home?! You'll just let me go home? Without any punishment or anything?"

Ms. April smiled agreeably, "I don't see anything wrong with that."

The man pulled himself out of Rhythmi's grip and launched himself back onto Ms. April who laughed sheepishly as the man sobbed heartily. "T-Teacher lady… I can't believe it…" He sniffled and sobbed harder.

"Wahhhhhhh!"

… **(x)…**

"There are shadows always lurking in all of our hearts." Kellyn said to the air.

The night air was much warmer than it had been in the morning, Kellyn thought that the Almia willows looked better in the night than they did in the light of the sun. Maybe it wasn't so bad to sneak out of the dorms in the middle of the night.

1:36AM. Kellyn found that the eventful day kept replaying in the back of his mind and especially those terrible memories he had strived to supress. He idly scrunched his nightwear in his fist before unscrunching it at the place under his heart, where a scar ran deep from his hips almost to where his heart was.

He didn't ever want to remember the days when he'd be rewarded with whips lashes across his back and when he stole food to survive.

"Kellyn?"

He whipped around almost instantly, how had he not noticed someone standing behind him? He was getting far too relaxed in Almia. Luckily, it was only Kate, who yawned quietly.

It was almost… Cute.

"Hitomi." Kellyn greeted gruffly.

"I didn't think anyone would be out at this time. What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same thing." He retorted.

"I came to see the stars." Was her dreamy reply.

Kellyn faltered. "The… Stars?"

Kate nodded, seating herself beside him on the grass that had long dried from the ice that coated its surface in the morning the day before. Kellyn shuffled sideways to allow her some room. " The unchanging stars and the constantly changing moon." She echoed and Kellyn raised his eyebrow at this.

"Why would you want to see the stars that never change?" He asked. Kate was now lying flat on her back, her hair spray out onto the grass behind her head. Kellyn noted that she didn't have her hair up in her usual spiky buns. She looked nice with hair that only barely passed her shoulders.

"If the stars never change," Kate started, lifting her hand into the air as if to grasp the orbs of light millions of miles away. "It means that the people I love are looking at the same sky as me."

"Your family?"

"Yes." Kate agreed and her hand dropped onto her stomach.

Then there was peaceful quiet with only the chirping of Kricketunes and Kricketots as well as the occasional hoots of Hoothoots and Noctowls. Not long after, Kate propped herself on her elbows, peeking at Kellyn through weary lashes.

"I could tell that you were distressed yesterday." She said in a faraway voice. "Did that scene remind you of a bad memory?"

She was almost too observant. "Yes…"

She didn't say anything, urging him to go on. Kellyn shifted uncomfortable, shifting himself to he was facing away from her and into a particular clearing where the Almia willows were blooming more beautifully than the others. He crossed his legs, peeringat Kate through the corner of his eye.

"I wasn't born into a happy life." He said simply. "My parents were… Gone… I suppose you could say. So I grew up in an orphanage owned by an old woman and an old man but they didn't exactly treat me kindly so I… Uhm… I had to do things to survive. I became a ranger to escape it and live a better life."

It wasn't exactly entirely false, Kellyn had left out a few details he didn't feel comfortable sharing with Kate. It wasn't like someone like her could ever understand what things happened to him in that orphanage anyway.

"I can tell you aren't telling me everything." She said in that dreamy way of hers. Damn. "But I won't push it, I'm just honored you even told me anything."

It wasn't like she had said anything particularly heartwarming, but Kellyn felt his brain shut down and all he could say was a measly thank you.

She smiled back in that heartfluttering way anyway.

"There are shadows always lurking in all of our hearts." Kellyn perked up, she must have heard him talking to himself earlier. "But we should never give in to that darkness in our hearts. It's a well known quote from the the history of Almia, from the hero of Almia himself."

Kellyn never thought Kate would be one to know the tale, 'Shadows of Almia'. It was an interesting fact to think that she did know.

Kate continued dreamily. "The ancient word 'vatonage' means 'to reawaken light that has been submerged in darkness.'" She even knew the textbook definition, Kellyn reminded himself to never underestimate her intelligence despite how airheaded she was.

"I never thought you would know the history of Almia." Kellyn commented.

Kate shrugged. "What about you? I know you're not from Almia. How do you know?"

Kellyn chuckled fondly, remembering himself ten years ago begging Sugihara to read him the tale of 'Shadows of Almia'. "Someone I care about a lot read it to me when I couldn't read for myself. I haven't seen him for years."

Kellyn had said his last comment in melancholy, he hoped that Kate didn't pick up on it but it was likely that she had but just chose not to make him elborate any further.

"I see." She hummed. "Is this your first time seeing the Almia willows?"

"Yeah."

"Mine too," She replied. "I though they were all lying when they said that the trees looked like the ocean when they bloomed. I guess they weren't."

Kellyn wasn't one for small talk. He was coolly detached and only wasted his energy when he needed to. How Kate had somehow dug her way under all the rules and boundries he had set up, he did not know.

He was starting to change.

* * *

 **Edited:** _29.04.2017 (minor typo-fix)_

 **Approximate Word Count:** _5400 words_

 **A/N:** _This chapter was so fun to write, in fact I wrote it all in one day. Today was a parent-teacher interview day so everyone has a day off school. I used it to type up this chapter. I was also motivated by the fact that my dad FINALLY got a new mac computer so I wanted to use this computer as much as I can. I finished Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild last night and it was a wild ride. I didn't know what to do with my life afterward because it became such a huge thing for me._

 _Anyway, this chapter gave me a lot of opportunities to add in my own style to the story rather than last chapter that was basically copy and paste from the games and gave me little to no room to do anything. Rhythmi and Kellyn had a lot of interaction in this chapter, not because they're going to add a wrench into Kate and Kellyn's budding romance but because I absolutely despise characters that have no other purpose than to exist as a love interest or a love rival. I intend to make the trio or the main cast (in this case, Kellyn, Kate, Keith and Rhythmi) much tighter than they were in the games. No, I have not suddenly decided to make this Kellyn/Rhythmi, I simply wanted to establish the type of relationship they have. Not every girl that is friendly with a guy will fall in love with him and vise-versa._

 _Oh also, before anyone asks me why I used the word 'cell phone' instead of 'smart phone' or 'iPhone' is because this game was released 11 years ago. That stuff didn't exist at the time. The fact that I have to explain this makes me feel old._

 _Anyway, this is so far the longest chapter I have typed and I have poured my blood, sweat and tears into this and I quite enjoyed doing it. I hope you'll stick around to read the next chapter of 'If I Could Reach You'._

 _-LucidClockwork_


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